Stay safe and protect yourself against fraud | NatWest

Cookies on the NatWest website

Privacy Notice:

We use cookies and similar technologies on our websites and mobile applications to help provide you with the best possible online experience. By using our sites and apps, you agree that we may store and access cookies and similar technologies on your device.

Other types of fraud and scams

Investment fraud is any scheme or deception relating to investments that affect a person or company. As traditional investments become less popular due to lower returns, high yield investments have become more attractive to fraudsters.

This type of fraud is when you think you’ve met the perfect person online, but are not who they say they are. Once that person has gained your trust, they ask for money for a variety of emotive reasons.

We see two main methods used by fraudsters to target ATMs – skimming and card trapping.

In a skimming attack, a criminal fits a small device in the card slot of the ATM. This little gadget captures the data from the magnetic stripe on the back of a bank card. Having also copied the PIN using a concealed camera, the fraudster puts this stolen bank card data onto the magnetic stripe of another card – a mobile phone top-up card, for example – which is then used to make cash withdrawals, usually overseas.

Card trapping occurs when a device fitted to the card slot prevents your card from being returned to you. Once you’ve left the machine, the fraudster prises the device off, taking your card.